Smart city project: Local bodies dept gears up for second round

After only one city from the state was able to make it to the list of first 20 cities which will be developed as part of the first phase of the smart city project, the Punjab local bodies department is gearing up for the second phase of the plan.

After only one city from the state was able to make it to the list of first 20 cities which will be developed as part of the first phase of the smart city project, the Punjab local bodies department is gearing up for the second phase of the plan.

The department is going to hold its first meeting as part of the second phase on April 1.

VP Singh, general manager, Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company (PMIDC), confirmed the development.

“The meeting has been called to hold the discussion as to how we can upgrade our smart city proposals. We have received guidelines from the government and we are going to work accordingly,” said VP Singh.

This will be the first meeting the department is going to hold after the Union ministry announced the first list on January 28.

Municipal commissioners of Amritsar and Jalandhar have been asked to attend the meeting along with the consultants roped in for these cities.

Jalandhar MC commissioner GS Khaira said he received a call in this connection and he will be attending the meeting.

Interestingly, the mayors of these cities have not been invited for the meeting.

Officials of Jalandhar municipal corporation said for the second round, they will focus on public participation which is one of the several reasons why the city lagged behind Ludhiana in the first phase.

In terms of public participation, Ludhiana had succeeded in engaging around 1 lakh residents while Jalandhar could garner only 26,000 votes.

‘Not received smart city analysis report’

Though the nodal officers of Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Amritsar are citing several reasons that led to their failure in the race, officials said they have not received the analysis report on the same from the ministry concerned even after one month has elapsed since.

On January 28, when Union urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu made announced 20 cities that will be included as part of the smart city plan, the points scored by each city were made public. On the basis of which factors a certain city has been selected was not made clear.

Jalandhar was in the 27th position with 53.08 marks while Amritsar was 25th with 54.55 marks.

Chandigarh, which was included in the list of 23 cities also termed as fast track cities that have been given the chance of upgrade itself for the second round of Smart city with par to 54 cities for the top 40 position.